By Tom Collins
Staff Writer

Few things come close to the intensity of the experience that is a Circa Survive hometown show. A sudden push forward from the entire sold out crowd of Union Transfer in Philadelphia as the band took the stage, and then everyone was being shoved in all directions, as everybody tried their hardest to get closer to the front. Crowdsurfers poured over the barricade with ease, making the three security guards whose only job was to keep people from coming over utterly useless. All of this, before the music even started.

To end their 2014 fall/winter tour, Circa returned to Philadelphia for two nights at Union Transfer, on December 13 and 14. With the house lights down, and a trippy, visual projection screen glowing behind them, the band walked out, as lead singer Anthony Green shouts, “Philly, baby!”, and remarked how great it is to be home. He motioned with his hands, commanding the sold out crowd of 1000 fans to come towards him. The crowd complied.

As soon as they did, the band broke into “Act Appalled”, a fast paced, fan-favorite from their first album, “Juturna”. Immediately, almost everybody was singing along. One of the most interesting about Circa Survive, is that they have very few casual fans. Most people attending their shows are extremely dedicated, die hard followers, many sporting tattoos of lyrics and album artwork of the band.

Each night, the band played a set spanning their whole ten year career, playing at least three songs from each of their albums. Even with slightly different setlists each night, the band still gave the audience a wide variety of music from their back catalogue. Throughout both shows, the crowd continued to sing along to every word of every song, old or new. “Schema” and “Only the Sun”, songs from the band’s latest album, “Descensus”, which was released only two weeks prior, already had most of the crowd singing along.

As performers, the band is unmatched. Guitarists Brendan Ekstrom and Colin Frangicetto, bassist Nick Beard, and drummer Steve Clifford all played their parts flawlessly, and frontman Anthony Green’s voice is as strong as ever, despite recently coming out about his struggles with heroin addiction, which he had kept hidden for several years. Now clean and sober, Green still moves around the stage like a madman, flailing his arms, reaching out to grab fans in the crowd, and even jumping in completely, crowdsurfing to the opposite end of the venue, and then all the way back.
While the band tended to keep it light, making jokes in between songs, before the encore both nights, Green made short, but very sincere speeches, thanking everyone in the crowd.

“I look out and see so many familiar faces, so many new faces, so many Circa tattoos, and the balloons, safe camp symbols, album artwork, and it’s overwhelming to me,” Green said, over cheers from the crowd. “Thank you for being part of our f****d up, little, weird family. Thanks for worshipping music with us. We’ll see you again real soon, Philadelphia.”

The band closed out both nights with “Get Out”, arguably their best known song. Even being exhausted after playing an hour and a half long set, the band still managed to put even more energy into the final song, making sure everyone left satisfied.

Walking out of the show, mostly everyone in attendance could only say one thing: “Wow.” The incredible energy of the band, along with the intimate attention paid to the crowd, as well as the music itself make Circa Survive one of the best live bands performing today, and anyone that goes to see them is in for a treat. They are only getting bigger, and their shows are selling out faster and faster, so it’s highly recommended that you go check them out when they come back next year.